Nihilist - Actually I DO understand what you're saying and I agree that a units effectiveness in the end does depend on how it performs on the battlefield as part of its army. Its effectiveness also depends on how it can perform on its own though - which is why I do single unit tests and why I said what I said.
You guys have all assumed that I have made my choice of sacred band being better solely of my 1 vs 1 tests - which I haven't. I use them to see how unit would fare versus each other - which does give some valid information to battlefield performance.

Anyways, performance on the battlefield also depends on the skill level of the player as well as the unit stats. So spartans could be exceptional in the right hands or down right poop in the wrong hands.
Let's just drop this whole thing and agree to disagree.